[pct-l] Fw: Alcohol vs Canister stoves.

[Edward Anderson]

For a very good reason open fires are prohibited by law in many parts of the 
PCT. The flame of an alcohol stove is an open fire just as a wood fire is. Over 
the years, many fires affecting the PCT have been started by those cooking on 
wood campfires or alcohol stoves. There are several problems with alcohol 
stoves. 1) Alcohol is a liquid that you must pour and it can spill and spread if 
the burning stove is accidentally knocked over. 2) There is no shut-off valve - 
you can't shut off or even adjust the flame - therefore you can't simmer either 
- it's all or nothing. 3) The flame is invisible in daylight. I know, they are 
lighter, and those who are very experienced can, and do, use them with 
reasonable safety. What I am MORE concerned about is that people with little or 
no experience, who are determined to go UL, will be influenced to use them and 
might end up starting fires. Just one hiker-started fire can burn thousands of 
acres and shut down the trail that we all love. This happened once during my 
2008 ride.

As for canister stoves:  I used a Jetboil during both 2008 & 2009.  It was very 
easy and convenient to use and turned out to be trouble-free for about five 
months on the trail - and I lived on the trail - did not go into towns for "0" 
days as most hikers do. So I cooked more often. I never had a flare-up. The 
flame was fully adjustable allowing me to simmer when I wanted to. And I could 
simply turn the valve to shut off the flame. It was very fuel-efficient; cooking 
two meals a day, I could get six or even seven days on the 7 ounce canister. I 
also carried a four ounce canister as a back-up, and rarely used it. By the time 
I got to Washington in 2009 I had become so confident of safely using that stove 
that I was able to cook inside the vestibule of my tent when it was raining 
outside. I notice in the latest REI catalog that the Jetboil "Green Edition" 
includes a "crunchit" tool allowing you to safely empty the canister and 
puncture it for recycling. I'm going to get one of those small tools for my 2011 
ride.

As for safety, it is best to not cook at all, as Steel-Eye suggests, especially 
in some fire-hazard areas. And you save even more weight and eliminate a lot of 
clean-up time. I have one friend, a Canadian, who did the entire PCT without 
cooking. She simplified eating. No stove. No cooking utinsils to clean. She was 
a slow, but steady, hiker. She said that she mostly ate while hiking. 


MendoRider